Old articleAll About
Software Synths and Samplers

Making sense of the VSTi, DXi Jungle

Time Out!What
is all this VSTi, DXi, AU and Rewire Stuff?

Here it is plain and simple.
VSTi (virtual studio technology instrument) was developed
by Steinberg as a Universal platform for soft synths and samplers.
Not all the companies bought into it. Logic did, but
also developed it's own softsynths that are built into Logic.
You can't use Emagic Soft synths with anything else. Cakewalk
did not go with VSTi, it went with DXi, which is based
on Microsoft direct X code. Rewire is
a scheme that pipes digital audio from Propellerhead's Reason and
Rebirth and Ableton's Live to other sequencers. An AU
stand for Audio Units, which means it is Mac OSX compatible.

Q) Are VSTi and DXi compatible on
Macs?

A) VSTi's can be run on Mac
sequencers if the sequencer supports VSTi's. Sometimes developers
will have a PC VSTi version and a Mac VSTi version, so be careful
to get the right one. Usually, these days they are both on the same
cd rom. In Logic in OS X you can only use Audio Unit plugins
DXi's cannot be run on Macs.

Q) What about MAS plugins?

A) MAS refers to plugins that work
with the MOTU audio system in digital performer, which can also
use VSTi, AU and ReWire

Q) What are TDM and RTAS plugins?

A) These are plugin formats for
Digidesign ProTools. Neither of these will work in common
"native" applications like Sonar or Cubase or DP. TDM requires
special hardware to work while RTAS works with products like Pro
Tools LE

Q) What is a Plugin Shell

A) A plugin shell usually
refers to a software "wrapper" that fools a host (i.e., the sequencer)
into using formats that would be incompatible without it.
For example, in a VSTi to DXi shell you can run VSTis and the sequencer
will treat them as DXis. Through the use of shells, Sonar
users can use VSTis and Logic Users can use VSTis. Without
a shell, Logic can only use AUs and Sonar can only use DXis.

Sequencer

VSTi

DXi

MAS

Re
wire

Audio Unit

Cubase SX

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Logic 5 PC

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Logic6 OS X

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Sonar

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Digital Performer

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Soft Synth or Sampler

VSTi

DXi

MAS

Re
wire

Audio Unit

Pro53

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Battery

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

B4

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

FM7

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Halion

Yes

No

PPG Wave

Yes

No

No

Model-E

Yes

No

No

Kontakt

Yes

No

No

Yes

Reaktor4

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Dynamo

Yes

No

No

Atmosphere

Yes

Yes

Trilogy

Yes

Yes

Stylus

Yes

Yes

Project 5

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Reason

No

No

No

Yes

Ableton Live

No

No

No

Yes

Fruity Loops

Yes

No

No

Kantos

Yes

Yes

Arturia Moog

Yes

Yes

Rebirth

No

No

No

Yes

Emagic EXSP

Yes

No

Mach 5

Yes

Yes

SampleTank

Yes

Yes

Yes

Kantos

Yes

Yes

Kompakt

Yes

Yes

Yes

The Grand

Yes

Absynth2

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Novation
BS

Yes

GForce
Oddity

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Korg
Legacy

Yes

Yes

ImpOScar

Yes

Yes

Tassman

Yes

Yes

Yes

BFD

Yes

Yes

Drumkit
f/Hell

Yes

EastWest
Bosendorfer

Yes

Vocaloid

Yes-PC

Yellow
Tool

Yes

LinPlug
RMIV

Yes

Yes

Note: the above table may be outdated
as the development of soft synths and sequencers changes with every
update

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Time Out!

Are Soft Synths Better than Hardware
synths?

A)
Well, you will never break your back carrying a soft synth to a gig.
But softsynths will rather quickly degrade your PC's performance as
they eat CPU cycles with veracity. Why is this? The CPU must deal
with the soft synths instructions immediately or there will be latency.
Most fast computers can achieve a latency of 5 microseconds (that is
5 hundredths of a second) and when they do, the soft synth "feels" like
a hardware synth when you play it. However, as you build your
song and have 10-16 softsynths playing back at this incredible rate,
the CPU gets behind in other tasks. When you add effects on top
might notice clicks and pops and other nasties in your audio.
If you don't heed the warning, suddenly the whole shebang may stop dead
in its tracks.

Hardware synths do not suffer this
as it just has to receive midi data on time, which is any computer can
do easily. So you can use your CPU for other tasks, like recording
audio, effects, even running other applications.

Soft synths are a good sounding as
many hardware synths, sometimes better. They also can be very specific
in their focus. People don't mind spending $350 for a softsynth
that just does pads and atmospheres, but they would mind buying a hardware
box that only does this for $2000. Hardware costs more because
making the thing costs more. Once software is made it is much
less of a problem to make 100,000 units

A Soft Synth mimics a hardware synthesizer
with different sounds and waveforms. Many follow the model of
a vintage analog synth with oscillators, filters, lfos and amp envelopes
making the sound, other's may use a model of FM, wavetable, or may be
modeled after an acoustic instrument.

What is the difference between a
soft synth and a soft sampler?

A Soft sampler works like a digital
sampler. These don't sample sounds per se (you usually need
an audio editor/recorder for that). But they do take "samples" (i.e.,
.wav or .aif files typically) and let you map them along your keyboard,
the same way one does in a hardware sampler. A soft sampler
may let you load sample cd roms that are used by hardware samplers
which gives you access to a universe of premium sounds. Once
you map the samples to the keyboard, you can then program them with
filters, lfos, amps like a soft synth. One advantage of soft
samplers over their hardware rivals is that there is no memory limit
to how many samples are immediately accessible--any wave file on
the computer is fair game. Compare that to hardware samplers
that have banks which are limited to 128, 256, or maybe 512 megabytes.

So the soft sampler has an open
architecture which lets you import any sound. The soft synth
is a closed architecture that allows you to select from a number
of supplies internal waveforms.

By Rich the Tweakmeister

Its like being
in a video
game these days. New, previously unreal possibilities are everywhere asthe day of the Virtual Studio has finally
arrived. It's here. It's real. And it sounds excellent. More
and more, my studio is getting smaller. I realize, as I look at the several
tiered racks of equipment surrounding me that I only absolutely need about half
of it to make music at the quality I am used to. And if I really wanted
to, I could make a great cutting edge piece with all the hottest sounds using only
my computer. Nowadays, there are often several different ways to obtain an
audio result. More often I am choosing to do audio manipulation on the computer,
rather than at the mixing board. Instead of routing tracks through sends and returns,
matrixing sounds with FX processors and compressors, I am opting to record the track
as digital audio and mess with it on the screen where I can see as well as hear
what's happening.

I took my first step in this direction by going
into SoundFonts, which was perhaps, the first affordable software sampler
available. Some of you may scoff and think "that's for game-makers".
Read on. SoundFonts are essentially WAV files (sampled audio files) with synth parameters.
They play exactly as a sample-based synth does. If you have a Creative Labs Soundblaster
card, you probably already have a SoundFont Engine installed in your computer.
The quality is as almost as high as an external sample based synth with good samples.
"Latency" or the time from when you trigger an event to when you hear it,
is very low. I have several banks of SoundFonts always ready to go on my PC.
Its just like having another sampler on the chain. But instead of this sampler costing
$1500, it cost me the price of an inexpensive soundcard. If you have a Creative
Labs Soundblaster you can get everything else you need (Vienna) from Creative's
site for free. There's tons of soundfont sites with free sf2 files and you can get
a massive library for nothing. And if you are actually willing to pay for a soundfont
library, you can get great stuff inexpensively. Oh and just a note, many high-end
soft samplers will load SF2 files. Kontakt, the Logic EXS and Halion will;
even Mac OSX can load them so you are really not going to lose any work down the
road if you start out with good old soundfonts.

Rewire Applications

The Propellerheads have a massive virtual application
for the new millennium called ReasonUnlike Reaktor, which is more like an infinitely variable synth/sampler/drumbox
you can add to your audio tracks in a professional sequencer like Logic, VST, etc,
Reason is like a total software studio in itself and needs no external mother
application. The look is totally awesome. You can turn the rack of synths,
drumboxs, effects around and mess with patching cables, doing some very advanced
tweaks, like routing control voltages from the synth to modulate parameters in other
instruments--hehe, exactly the kind of tweaking many trance artists used. Except
in reason, you do it on the screen, instead of crawling behind a 8 foot rack of
gear with a flashlight If you like to tweak synths, you have to try it. Reason
records all your knob/fader moves, and you can do incredibly nasty things to drum
loops, samples, midi sequences. Take it out for a spin and Download Reason(The demo) Reason does support Rewire, so you can presumably run it from external
sequencers. If you use Rebirth, you'll love Reason and you can
run Rebirth from within Reason and route the outputs through the Reason Mixer and
FX. The most outstanding bit with Reason, IMHO, is the killer sound.
If you want to put some real hipness into your mix, this is it. Reason is
an efficient running program and you can get dense mixes on an average computer.
The program exports to WAV very nicely so you can use other applications to add
vocals, master, and further tweak. I have it, and will attest to its intense
sound. After getting Reason, I have taken the coveted Tweak's Pick award
from Reaktor and have given it to Reason.

If you like classic Techno music,
Propellerhead's
Rebirthis a must have. It is the classic 808/909/303 all in one program
and it sounds utterly authentic. Knobs and sliders function in real time just
like on the original machines and you can watch all your tweaks on playback.
Why mess with loops when you can get awesome results with Rebirth and totally control
every note? If you are serious, you have to have it in your virtual toolbox.
Add a bit of delay to the outputs and you are transported to realms that are very
psychedelic, grubbing around in a vast techno feeding ground.

The third Rewire Application is the Ableton Live.
I wrote a review of
it elsewhere, so go check it out. The Ableton Live hooks into your sequencer's
mixer and pipes in hit fresh audio loops, perfectly timed to the sequencer's BPM,
with it's own killer FX engine. Can you run more than one Rewire application
in a sequencer? Yep! If your CPU is up to the task.

The latest addition as of this writing is Cakewalk's
Project 5. It needs a powerful computer, but if you have that, it
can really make your rig move with hot electronica and effects. See my
review.

Software Synths

I favor Reaktor,
by Native Instruments. This program is leaps and bounds above any hardware
synth out there in terms of sound making potential. Uhhh, go back and read that
line again. I mean every word. The dudes at Native Instruments are cooking
some great stuff in the kitchen. Build your own synth engine from templates
and presets. Add FM, analog, ring mods, fx, samplers, step sequencers...getting
the idea? Make sure you have a relatively fast computer as it works best with
the ASIO 2.0 protocol. If you have the latest versions of VST or Logic, your ready.
Congrats to Native Instruments, they have a winner with class! The thing that
got me was, unlike all the other soft products below, the Reaktor modules had me
tweaking up sounds I had never heard before in just a few minutes after installing
the program. I had erroneously thought I had heard it all. Nice surprise!
And the coolest thing is that there are tons of user built synths that are freely
downloadable at the Native Instruments site. These aren't just "patches" but
full-hog user-blown total virtual synths! Tweak sez: Visionary thinkers at NI! Check
it out at Native Instruments And check my review of
Reaktor Session

A truly classic Pro52
(now the pro53) the software clone of the Prophet 5 synth made by Sequential
circuits in the 80's. The Pro52 works as a stand alone synth or as a plugin
to logic, Cubase or Sonar, etc., and it has the classic Prophet sound you have undoubtedly
heard on classic remixes. You'd have to pay some pretty big bucks and deal
with near non-existent service and parts if you had the real deal. This allows
anyone to get the classic sequential sound for a fraction of what you'd pay.
The program is so tight it will actually read sysex files from the original unit.
Now that is attention to detail!

Also from Native Instruments is the FM7 and B4
soft synths. The FM7 is a software
clone of the type of FM synthesis that was used in the many version of Yamaha synthesizers,
such as the DX7, TX7, TG77, SY99, TX 81Z, TX 802, DX7II. The FM sound is nothing
like the sound of an analog synth, which is by nature warm and fluid sounding.
FM is clean, distinct, a little cold and brittle and cuts through a mix of analog
stuff like a laser. Hence it is popular for basses, FX, bells, mallets, anything
that has to be crisp. What is a bit surprising about the FM7 is how good it sounds:
it sounds better than the FM synths I have here. Sort of like if you died
and went to heaven how FM would sound. LOL. Definite 2 thumbs up.

The B4
is NI's software clone of a Hammond B3 organ. And it sounds like a B3 in all
its blueseyness, churchliness, and more. Does those killer Emerson-esque tones
like were featured on Tarkus, and can also give you that B3 bass notes you may have
heard in many dance remixes. Emagic, ever on NI's heels, has their version
of the venerable B3, called the EVB3.
Remember now, emagic soft synths are only available in the Logic Pro 6 package

Absynth
2 is another heavy NI soft synth. Extremely powerful. I got it a few months
ago. This synth is for heavy tweaks. You get a lot of different filters
and can "granualize" your own samples with it. Check out my
review

The Emagic ES1once got high marks from me as a Logician. But that was before I got the
Emagic ES2. The ES2 is utterly great, so so flappin' fat sounding, it
just oozes with cellulite! Also has a killer randomize function that lets you filter
certain things out of the randomizer so you don't get stuff you don't want. It's
not going to work with anything else but Logic, so don't try if you are on VST or
Cakewalk. The Es1 is good for straightaway analog synths and is easy to program.
The interface is streamlined, efficient, and easy to use. The Es2 is a MONSTER Analog
The sound is very animated with automated knobs in Logic 5. Oh Yes you can
do what you think you might do. The Tweak likes the ES1 and Loves the ES2.
It's truly mind-blowing!

Another add-on to the emagic system of soft-wares
is Emagic EVP88 Vintage Virtual Piano. These are high quality pianos
that replicate vintage Rhodes, Wurlitzer's and Hohner EPs. There's some truly
astonishing effects possible with a built in phaser, Tremolo, Overdrive and EQ for
making EP sounds with bite and intensity or shimmering ethereality. A nice
compliment to logic's arsenal. Now if I could just play like Hancock or Corea, I'd
be set. If you have exacting requirements for authenticity in your EPs--this
will satisfy. And like the other emagic soft synths, it comes bundled in the
Logic Pro package.

Soft Samplers

Another Emagic great addition is the EXS Sampler.
It works exclusively within Logic and is extremely powerful. Yet, that is
its problem. It only works in Logic. Someday, I hope, manufacturers
see the light that proprietary formats only weaken the product in the long run.
Software makers, get a clue. To be fair, Emagic is not the only one doing
this. The Propellerheads are too with their secret NN sample format in Reason,
and of course Akai and Emu have been buried in this all through the 80's and 90's.
Now just think had they decided differently. Ok, off the soapbox, the EXS is tight
with Logic and the plugins really bring out extreme (buzzword of the newbie) sounds.
I have two hardware samplers but still find a use for the EXS in my music that really
makes it standout. Think for a minute. Lets say you have Reaktor or
Dynamo and you cook up a great CPU intensive patch. Sample it into the EXS
and free the CPU, and then go to town with Logic Plugins on top of that! Now, (we're
not done yet) render to an audio track and resample it again! Ok, you see the point,
I hope. The point is what's possible. If you like to make wild and contorted noises,
nothing satisfies like an over-sampled EXS24 with a rack of plugins. It can
make nice sounds too. :) As of Logic 5 you can import Recycle files.
Dude, you don't know how cool that one feature is. That is sheer audio power.
Go to my EXS resource page.

Now that Emagic "letting go" of PC users, you might
wonder what to do with all those cool EXS instruments you made. Will they
work in Cubase? Nope! Not unless you get an EXSP24 sample
player which works as a VSTi and can work in all sequencers that use VSTi's.
It cannot make instruments though. But if you already have them made then....

A Mac softsampler that is getting some looks and
nods is the MOTU Mach
Five. This sampler can import sample libraries from Akai (S1000, 3000,
5000, 6000), Roland (s7xx), Emu (E3 and E4), Gigastudio, Emagic's EXS, Steinberg's
Halion, and even Digidesign's SampleCell and Creamware's Pulsar. Just the
thing for those of us with lots of legacy libraries and wall-fulls of sample cd
roms. Also throw in importing Kurweil K2xxx. Akai MPC, Wav, AIFF, SD2, and
even REX on the sample level. All I can say--It's about time! I despise these
format wars and its a great thing that one program can load them all. Mac
Only for now.

But if Cubase VST or Cubase SX is your game
and you are starting fresh, you would want to go with a soft sampler like Halion
or Kontakt. Kontakt is getting great reviews and I am just dying to put
it in my virtual rack. Halion
is to Cubase much as the EXS is to Logic, so if you are diehard Steinberg, it
the path. As Halion is a VSTi, it will work on other sequencers too--not
Sonar though, which only uses DXi's. Next up is
Battery, perhaps the ultimate drum sampler. Easy as heck to use.
Just drag N drop samples from your hard drive's directories right on a pad in
Battery. Then you play them on a midi keyboard and record away in Logic,
Cubase, or Sonar--works well with them all. If you are serious about your drums,
give it a go. Yep, you can use multiple outs in sequencers that support
them, like Cubase.

Finally, we get to Kontakt,
which, so the ads say, works as a VSTi or a DXi, meaning it's good to go with
Sonar, Logic, or Cubase. I just got it myself and it is impressive. Not
only can it play samples really well, it can re-synthesize them with some utterly
unique modulators. The folks at Native Instruments set out to make the world's
best sampler ever. I think they might have it. One thing that is cool,
you can make "Multis" of sampler instruments--yep, just like a synth, 16 channel
multitimbral Multis, complete with insert FX. If your sequencer supports
multiple VST outs, like Cubase SX does, you can route stuff within the multi
to different audio channels of you audio interface. Tres' Cool.
In case you are wondering, it can import soundfonts, Akai, Battery, and Gigasampler.
No it will not import the EXS...yet. I imported my Mystik Window soundfonts
and they came in almost perfect. I predict a long and happy life for Kontakt
at the TweakLab. You can read my full review. Also check out the new condensed versions called Kompakt
and IntaktIntakt, particular, is great for putting loops into sequencers that do not
automatically timestretch.

Take a look at the GigaStudio
products formerly owned by Nemesys Systems, now owned by Tascam.
No, I am not ready to toss out my Emu. But it does things that I would
need a stack of samplers to do, like play really long pads. I does all
the things well that you never wanted to tie up your sampler with. Non-looped
Orchestral strings being one. A massive number of dance loops all set
up across and ready to go being two. Of course you can do this with any
sampler, as many as you can fit in your "puny" 128 meg ram. With the GS
the presets are always 'on board', you just drag them to a channel.
Get the idea? No more fumbling with hunting through multiple cd roms for
the preset you "think" was the sound you wanted. No more loading, mounting,
scsi refreshing, messing with click of death zip disks. You just open
a window and drag and drop. Comes with a preset editor, no more tiny screens,
no more sysex protocols and editing software that only works when its raining.
GS has hooks to your favorite sequencer and wav editor. You should go
out and get a 21" monitor now, and while you are there get a few 30 gig hard
drives. Your computer just got busier. The Giga products are neither
VSTi or DXi. This is a totally different game. The application installs
a GSIF engine that your sequencer can access by MIDI. The engine stream
audio data from your hard disk. I think GS works best on a 2nd computer
as it is on my system a bit of a hog. And you should carefully check to
make sure it is compatible with your soundcard before you buy, it must
be GSIF compatible. Make sure, ok? One reason to go with
Giga is there are many upscale libraries available used in film scoring.
Tascam is ahead of the game in that department. Now
that computers are getting faster, I am warming up to these again.